Game Summary

Table of Contents

As you scroll down this page, the clues get progressively more revealing. So scroll slowly!

1. Spelling Bee Grid
2. Two-Letter List (2LL) Hints
3. Three-Letter List (3LL) Hints
4. Extra Letter Hints (Incrementally Revealing) 🤯
5. Today's Complete Solution
6. Answer Definitions

If you're just here for a list of NYT Spelling Bee answers, Jump down to the answers ↓ (Spoiler Alert!).

Spelling Bee Grid

The following table shows the standard Spelling Bee summary grid, which lists word lengths across the top and letters down the left-hand side. The cell where the word lengths and letters intersect displays the number of words in today's puzzle with the corresponding first letter and word length.

Two-Letter List (2LL) Hints

The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding two letters.

Three-Letter List (3LL) Hints

The following list shows the number of solution words that begin with the corresponding three letters.

Extra Letter Hints (Incrementally Revealing)

The table below lists all of the solutions to today's puzzle, but they're concealed. You can click the plus button (+) to reveal additional letters, one-by-one.

Concealed definitions are provided as additional clues. You can toggle concealment of the definitions by clicking on the concealer bar or the text that appears when the definition is visible.

Pangrams are marked with a dagger symbol (^†).

Today's Complete Solution

The words that follow are a complete listing of all acceptable words in today's New York Time Spelling Bee puzzle.

Next to the answer word you'll see the two-letter reference (2L Ref) in parentheses. We added that 2L Ref for easier translation of the spoiler-avoidant language you see on the Spelling Bee Forum and Twitter. The 2L Ref signifies a word's two start letters followed by the total number of letters in the word.

• infallibly^†  (IN10)
• ably  (AB4)
• affably  (AF7)
• alfalfa  (AL7)
• alibi  (AL5)
• allay  (AL5)
• ally  (AL4)
• anal  (AN4)
• anally  (AN6)
• annal  (AN5)
• bail  (BA4)
• bailiff  (BA7)
• ball  (BA4)
• banal  (BA5)
• banally  (BA7)
• bialy  (BI5)
• bilabial  (BI8)
• bill  (BI4)
• billy  (BI5)
• blab  (BL4)
• blabby  (BL6)
• blin  (BL4)
• blini  (BL5)
• fail  (FA4)
• fall  (FA4)
• fallibly  (FA8)
• filial  (FI6)
• filially  (FI8)
• fill  (FI4)
• filly  (FI5)
• final  (FI5)
• finally  (FI7)
• finial  (FI6)
• flab  (FL4)
• flabby  (FL6)
• flail  (FL5)
• flan  (FL4)
• flay  (FL4)
• flyby  (FL5)
• illy  (IL4)
• infill  (IN6)
• inlay  (IN5)
• labia  (LA5)
• labial  (LA6)
• lain  (LA4)
• lanai  (LA5)
• lily  (LI4)
• nail  (NA4)

Answer Definitions

• infallibly^† (adverb): In an infallible manner.
• ably (adverb): In an able manner; with great ability.
• affably (adverb): in an affable manner
• alfalfa (noun): A plant, principally of Medicago sativa, grown as a pasture crop.
• alibi (noun): The plea or mode of defense under which a person on trial for a crime proves or attempts to prove being in another place when the alleged act was committed.
• allay (verb): To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.
• ally (verb): To unite or form a connection between (people or things), as between families by marriage, or between states by confederacy, league, or treaty.
• anal (adjective): of, related to, intended for or involving the anus.
• anally (adverb): Involving the anus.
• annal (noun): The record of a single event or item.
• bail (noun): Security, usually a sum of money, exchanged for the release of an arrested person as a guarantee of that person's appearance for trial.
• bailiff (noun): An officer of the court, particularly: A reeve, the chief officer executing the decisions of any English court in the period following the Norman Conquest or executing the decisions of lower courts in the late medieval and early modern period. A high bailiff: an officer of the county courts responsible for executing warrants and court orders, appointed by the judge and removable by the Lord Chancellor. A bound bailiff: a deputy bailiff charged with debt collection. Any law enforcement officer charged with courtroom security and order. A huissier de justice or other foreign officer of the court acting as either a process server or as courtroom security.
• ball (noun): A solid or hollow sphere, or roughly spherical mass.
• banal (adjective): Common in a boring way, to the point of being predictable; containing nothing new or fresh.
• banally (adverb): In a banal, trite or boring manner.
• bialy (noun): A flat bread roll topped with onion flakes. Instead of a hole like a bagel, it has a depression in the middle.
• bilabial (adjective): Articulated with both lips.
• bill (noun): Any of various bladed or pointed hand weapons, originally designating an Anglo-Saxon sword, and later a weapon of infantry, especially in the 14th and 15th centuries, commonly consisting of a broad, heavy, double-edged, hook-shaped blade, with a short pike at the back and another at the top, attached to the end of a long staff.
• billy (noun): A billy club.
• blab (verb): To tell tales; to gossip without reserve or discretion.
• blabby (adjective): Tending to blab or gossip a lot.
• blin (verb): To cease (from); to stop; to desist, to let up.
• blini (noun): A small pancake, of Russian origin, made from buckwheat flour; traditionally served with melted butter, sour cream and caviar or smoked salmon.
• fail (verb): To be unsuccessful.
• fall (verb): To be moved downwards. To move to a lower position under the effect of gravity.
• fallibly (adverb): In a fallible manner
• filial (adjective): Pertaining to or befitting a son or daughter.
• filially (adverb): In a filial manner.
• fill (verb): To occupy fully, to take up all of.
• filly (noun): A young female horse.
• final (noun): A final examination; a test or examination given at the end of a term or class; the test that concludes a class.
• finally (adverb): At the end or conclusion; ultimately.
• finial (noun): The knot or bunch of foliage, or foliated ornament, that forms the upper extremity of a pinnacle in Gothic architecture.
• flab (noun): Soft, loose flesh on a person's body; fat.
• flabby (adjective): Yielding to the touch, and easily moved or shaken; hanging loose by its own weight; lacking firmness; flaccid.
• flail (noun): A tool used for threshing, consisting of a long handle with a shorter stick attached with a short piece of chain, thong or similar material.
• flan (noun): Baked tart with sweet or savoury filling in an open-topped pastry case.
• flay (verb): To cause to fly; put to flight; drive off (by frightening).
• flyby (noun): A flight past a celestial object in order to make observations.
• illy (adverb): Badly; poorly.
• infill (verb): To fill in a space, hole or gap.
• inlay (verb): To place (pieces of a foreign material) within another material to form a decorative design.
• labia (noun): The folds of tissue at the opening of the vulva, at either side of the vagina.
• labial (adjective): Of or pertaining to the lips or labia.
• lain (verb): past participle of lie (“to be oriented in a horizontal position, situated”)
• lanai (noun): A Hawaiian-style roofed patio.
• lily (noun): Any of several flowers in the genus Lilium of the family Liliaceae, which includes a great many ornamental species.
• nail (noun): The thin, horny plate at the ends of fingers and toes on humans and some other animals.